


promise

by coldbrewgirl



Series: tiny sparks [9]
Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Chanyeol’s Birthday Week 2020, Character Death, Crime Family, Crimes & Criminals, M/M, implied shooting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:00:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28218861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coldbrewgirl/pseuds/coldbrewgirl
Summary: sometimes, things change — even when no one wants them to
Relationships: Kim Jongin | Kai/Park Chanyeol
Series: tiny sparks [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1839997
Comments: 5
Kudos: 13
Collections: Challenge #11 — The Suspect... is You!





	promise

**Author's Note:**

> \- thank you, mods, for repeatedly giving me extended extensions (heh), you guys are the absolute best
> 
> \- a, for pushing me to write, even when i have absolutely no idea how to put my thoughts into words

Chanyeol fingered the gun in his back pocket uneasily, glancing at the dim alleyway twice before he stepped into the musty phone booth that held his very first memory with Jongin. Further down, a rogue fire crackled in a barrel, and around it, trash, crude oil, and possibly even blood dotted the ground. He hated this place, but he knew that Jongin loved the whole this-was-where-we-first-met fiasco. His eyes darted around the small booth and spotted an out-of-place envelope slotted between two rotting wooden planks. 

_Hi Loey,_

Chanyeol’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Jongin hated that name, only because it was a constant reminder of who Chanyeol was, the boss of one of the biggest crime families in South Korea. 

_Do you still remember this place? It’s not much, but you know me and I really like familiar places._

Chanyeol coughed out a laugh. Jongin had a habit of using words that didn’t match what he was thinking. _More like sentimental,_ Chanyeol thought, the corner of his mouth twitching at his boyfriend’s choice of word. 

_You know, I never got to thank you — more your… family — for taking me in. I know it’s not easy for all of you to trust anyone, even more a complete stranger at that. But take it from me when I say they were right; never, ever trust strangers._

Chanyeol’s brows furrowed in confusion. What on earth was Jongin playing at? 

_Mostly I just want to say that I am sorry, because you were my promise, and I swear I wanted to keep you. There was no way I was going to break something I made, but maybe things changed, even when I didn’t want them to._

Was this… a break up letter? Chanyeol shook his head. That couldn’t be right. 

_And I guess somewhere along the way, I fell for you, for the way your beautiful brown eyes glow like twin cups of our favourite earl gray tea when the sun hits it at 7 in the morning, for the way they kiss in the corners when your heart is happy and full. I fell for the way your bunny nose twitches when you smell the buttery pancakes bubbling away on the stove. And somehow I fell for the way you look whenever it’s just you and me and your favorite guitar, like somehow, the world didn’t matter. That it didn’t make a difference even though you run a crime family because when it was just us, we were our own worlds._

__

__

_Most of all, I fell for the way you seem to effortlessly command a roomful of your people so easily, the very same way I hope to do with my own someday._

__

__

_I guess what I’m trying to say is that I fell for you too fast, headfirst, when I never should have at all. But now that you’re reading this, it might very well have been too late for me to change anything anyway._

_Kai_

_Kai?_ Chanyeol’s breath rattled in his chest and his face paled. 

_No._

Chanyeol looked up from the paper in his hand and flinched slightly as the phone to his front rang shrilly, a loud noise in the dead silence.

_No._

“Jongin?” he murmured, his voice a hoarse prayer, disbelieving. The hair on his arms stood as he heard movement from outside the booth, the wind whispering warnings that fell on ears that chose not to listen. 

“Thank you, I’m sorry, I love you.” Chanyeol closed his eyes, a tear escaping the corner of his eye. It was over; all of this was over.

A click, a bang, and then all was silent.

**Author's Note:**

> so there is a teeny tiny detail i’d like to iron out:
> 
> jongin is actually the heir of an opposing crime family whose original boss had just passed away, and for him to prove himself, he had to kill the boss of another crime family, chanyeol (i hope this all makes sense)
> 
> also, absolutely not related, but i guess this fic was built off a line from exo’s song called promise. 
> 
> additionally, and this is the last note i swear, i have had the hardest time writing this, maybe because i’m almost always tired from work, so i hope everything i’ve written makes sense


End file.
